Many of our clients have a false sense of security in believing that their business is too small for a cyber breach! Cyber attacks against businesses has increased significantly over the past few years. Small businesses have become especially vulnerable to cyber attacks. The 2013 Verizon Data Breach Study indicated that organizations with under 100 employees account for 31% of all breaches. The most desired data for organized crime is Payment Card Info, Authentication Credentials, and Bank Account Information.

According to the Verizon Data Report, many organizations do not have the tools or procedures in place to detect identity fraud, including an incident response plan, vendor management procedures or data encryption for personally identifiable information. Cyber criminals know this and focus their “activities” on smaller businesses.

When a data breach happens, federal and state laws require that you notify affected customers/clients. A cyber breach can be costly. Implementing an effective risk management program will go a long way toward protecting your business.

The following are a few tips to help in your cyber risk management program:

Use anti-virus software and KEEP IT UP-TO-DATE.

Don’t open email from unknown sources.

Protect your network from Internet Intruders by using appropriate Firewalls.

Develop Social Media policies to reduce your risk and make sure ALL employees are trained.

Don’t share access to computers with strangers.

Back up computer data regularly and consider keeping one version off-site.

Regularly download security protection updates.

Evaluate computer security settings on a regular basis.

Make sure employees are trained on how to update virus protection software and how to create hard-to-guess passwords.

Thoroughly investigate your tech providers work history / experience.

If your data storage is outsourced, please note that most data centers / cloud providers do not accept liability in their service agreements with you. READ your agreements.